Packaging machine



April 4, 1967 H. J. HARP, JR 3,312,036

PACKAGING MACHINE Filed Feb. 12, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. HAP/PM]. H1491? JR Aprii 4, 1967 H. J. HARP, JR

PACKAGING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 12, 1964 INVENTOR. HAfi/P) a. HARP, JR.

3,3l2,3b Patented Apr. 4, i957 tifice 3,312,036 PACKAGING MACHINE Harry .I. Harp, In, Jenkintown, Pa., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Union Carbide Corporation, a corporation of New York Filed Feb. 12, 1964, Ser. No. 344,259 3 Claims. (Cl. 53--182) Ths invention relates to packaging machines. More particularly, the present invention is directed to apparatus for packaging tubular articles such as straws or the like.

Heretofore, it has been conventional to package straws with an outer covering of paper-like material. The paper-like material is provided with an adhesive seam along its axial length. The free ends of the covering material are seamed together by the application of pressure. The straw is readily obtainable by tearing the outer covering and removing the straw therefrom.

Many people removing the straw from the outer covering described above blow on one end of the straw thereby causing the outer covering to move through the air for a short distance. Thereafter, it is necessary to pick up the outer covering material. Due to the nature of the packaging equipment utilized heretofore, the straw is loosely disposed within the outer covering. Hence, more covering material is utilized than is necessary.

The apparatus of the present invention utilizes a minimum amount of covering material whereby the straw or tubular article is difiicult to move in an axial direction while disposed within the outer covering. Hence, economy of materials is effected by the present invention While eliminating a nuisance associated with straws having an outer covering of paper-like material as described above. In addition, the apparatus of the present invention is adapted for continuous operation whereby articles such as straws or the like may be more rapidly provided with a covering material. Thus, a working embodiment of the present invention produces tubular articles enveloped within a covering material at a rate which is five or six times faster than equipment known and/ or used heretofore for the purposes of the present invention.

It is an object of the present invention to provide novel packaging apparatus.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel packaging apparatus wherein tubular articles will be provided with an outer covering for sanitary purposes.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel apparatus for packaging tubular articles such as straws and the like in a manner which is more rapid in operation than those proposed heretofore.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel apparatus for continuously providing straws with a sanitary paper covering.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel apparatus which is more inexpensive and more efiicient than those proposed heretofore for packaging tubular articles or the like.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there are shown in the drawings forms which are presently preferred; it being understood, however, that this invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown.

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a packaging apparatus in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line 2-2 in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is an end elevation View looking from left to right in FIGURE 1'.

FIGURE 4 is a partial perspective view of a portion of the apparatus illustrated at the righthand end thereof in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of a guide tube, illustrated upside down for purposes of illustration.

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of a typical end prodnet of the present invention.

Referring to the drawing in detail, wherein like numerals indicate like elements, there is shown in FIG- URE 1 packaging apparatus designated generally as 1%. The apparatus ltl includes a frame designated generally as 12 adapted to be supported above a floor by legs or the like. The frame 12 may assume a wide variety of configurations and therefore need not be described in detail. Insofar as the present invention is concerned, the elements to be described hereinafter may be supported on a conventional table or the like.

The apparatus It includes a hopper 14 at one end thereof. Hopper I4 is generally V-shaped and includes sloping sides 16 and 18 which terminate at their closest edge in throat plates 22 and 24], respectively. The plates 20 and 22 are spaced from one another to define a gap through which tubular articles such as straws 24 may be discharged from the hopper.

The hopper 14 is provided with a wiper blade 26 supported by a shaft 28 in a position over the gap between the throat plates 20 and 22. As shown more clearly in FIGURES 2 and 3, the blade 26 is positioned immediately above the throat plates 20 and 22 for oscillation through an arc of approximately to prevent the straws 24 from jamming in the hopper and thereby not passing between throat plates Ztl and 22 by gravity. The shaft 23 is supported at its lefthand end in FIGURE 2 in any convenient manner and is coupled to a link 32?. Link 30 has a roller at one end which follows the contour of cam 32 whereby link 3d will oscillate about a point corresponding to longitudinal axis of shaft 23. Cam 32 may be mounted on any convenient shaft and coupled to a source of rotary motion.

An endless belt 34 is disposed beneath the throat plates 20 and 22. Belt 34 extends around idler roller 36 and ribbon roller 38. Roller 38 is on shaft 42. A plurality of pin members 30 are secured to the belt 34 at spaced points therealong. The belt 34 is juxtaposed to the lowermost edge of the plates 24) and 22 so that the pin members 40 extend into the gap between these plates as will be made clear hereinafter. The height of the pin members is slightly less than the diameter of the straws 24 as shown more clearly in FIGURE 2.

A tube 44 open at both ends is supported in any convenient manner in line with the gap between the throat plates 20 and 22. Tube 44 has an enlarged inlet end 46 disposed immediately to the right of the roller 38 as shown more clearly in FIGURE 2. The opposite end of tube 44- is provided with a substantial cut away portion 48 as shown more clearly in FIGURE 5. Opposite the cut away portion 48, tube 44 is provided with an aperture 50. A pressure roller 52 supported by the convenient bracket or the like extends through aperture 50 and biases the straw 24 into firm contact with the supporting surface therebelow. Below the roller 52, there is provided a rotatably mounted roller 54 which is secured to shaft 56. Shafts 42 and 56 are rotatably supported at their ends by conventional hearings or the like and are interconnected for simultaneous rotation at the same rate of speed by means of endless belt 58.

A roll of covering material such as tissue paper 62 is supported by the frame 12 below the plane of the axis of shafts 42 and 56. The covering material 62 extends up wardly around idler roller 64 and passes between the outer periphery of roller 54 on the straws 24. Thereafter, the covering material 62 extends over a support plate 66 and is caused to have its side edges moved upwardly thereby enveloping the bottom half of the straws 24- as they move together between guide rollers 68 and 70. At this point, the lower half of the straw 24 is in firm contact with the covering material 62.

After passing the rollers 68 and 70, the straw 24 and the covering material 62 move between driven seamer roller 72 and idler seamer roller 74. Rotary power for rotating roller 72 is introduced to said roller by way of gear box 76 and shaft 78. Shaft 78 is coupled by belt 80 to shaft 56. Pulley 84 on shaft 78 is coupled to the output end of motor 88 by way of belt 86. The pulleys on the shafts 78, 56 and 42 are identical so that all shafts are rotating at the same rate of speed and all driven from motor 88 as described above.

Referring to FIGURE 4, it will be noted that the roller 72 is provided with a knife 90 on its outer periphery. The outer periphery of roller 72 is also provided with knurled pressure surfaces 92 and 94 disposed on opposite sides of the knife 90. Above the knife 90 and surfaces 92 and 94, roller 72 is provided with an annular knurled pressure surface 96. Below surface 96 and in line with the knife 90, the periphery of roller 72 is provided with a concave groove 98.

Roller 74 is identical with roller 72 except that the former does not have a knife 90. Accordingly, corresponding structure on the roller 74 is provided with corresponding primed numerals.

The operation of the apparatus of the present invention is as follows:

Tubular articles such as straws 24 are disposed parallel to one another in the hopper 14. The straws 24 are preferably of the same length and may be made from a hollow plastomeric material such as polystyrene. Under the effect of gravity, the straws 24 drop down between the throat plates 20 and 22 and rest on the belt 34. The pin member 40 moves the lowermost straw 24 to the right in FIGURE 2 by direct contact with one end of the straw 24. Pin member 40 pushes the straw 24 through the tube 44. Enlarged end 46 on tube 44 facilitates ease of entry regardless of slight misalignment.

When the straw 24 moves out of the effect of pin 40, its forward end will be between pressure roller 52 and driven roller 54. The last-mentioned rollers now continue the forward movement of the straw 24 together with the covering material 62. Covering material 62 is preferably thin tissue paper which may be of the same thickness as the paper-like material used heretofore for such sanitary coverings for straws. Due to the cut out portion 48 and the rollers 68 and 70, the covering material 62 has its longitudinally extending side edges moved upwardly so that it envelopes the lower half of the straw 24.

When the straw 24, partially enveloped as described above, moves out of the moving effect of the roller 54, its forward end is between the rollers 72 and 74 within the concave grooves 98 and 98'. Hence, the rollers 72 and 74 continue the forward movement of the straw 24 and complete the envelopment of the straw 24 by the covering material 62.

As the covering material 62 moves between the annular knurled pressure surfaces 96 and 96', a seam 100 is effected in the covering material, with the covering material very tightly enveloping the straw 24. The rotation of the rollers 72 and 74 is timed in relationship to the movement of the belt 34 and roller 54 so that the knife 90 will enter the groove 98 between the surfaces 92' and 94 thereby severing the covering around straw 24 at a point located in the gap between two successive straws. The extent of such a gap is illustrated in FIGURE 2.

Prior to the cutting action by knife 90, knurled pressure surfaces 94 and 94 contact one another and effect a seam 102 in the covering material 62. As soon as the covering material is cut, knurled pressure surfaces 92 and 92 contact one another and effect a seam 104 in the front end of the next straw. Thereafter, the completely enveloped and sealed straw is discharged on a conveyor belt (not shown) and conveyed to a boxing machine wherein the thusly packaged articles will be boxed in a conventional manner.

All of the above steps are effected simultaneously and continuously to repetitively package tubular articles such as straws in a continuous manner much faster than devices proposed heretofore. It will be noted that the seam has the longitudinally extending side edges of the strip of covering material 62 in abutting contact but not overlying the periphery of straw 24. That is, the seam 100 extends radially outwardly with respect to the straw 24. Since the concave grooves 98 and 98 form a circular passageway corresponding to the outer periphery of straw 24 plus the thickness of material 62, the seam 100 extends from the periphery of the straw 24 in a radially outward direction.

It will be noted that the circumference of rollers 72 and 74 are identical and slightly greater than the length of the straw 24. At all times, there is a positive drive means moving the straw 24 from left to right in FIG- URE 2.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof and, accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims, rather than to the foregoing specification as indicating the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. Packaging apparatus comprising a hopper, enveloping means for enveloping tubular articles in line with one another with an outer covering, transport means for conveying tubular articles from the hopper to the enveloping means, a seamer means comprising a pair of rollers having a portion of their periphery knurled, another portion of the periphery of said rollers having a concave groove through which the articles and covering material may pass, and a cutter means for cutting the covering material across the seam between adjacent articles.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 wherein said cutter means is supported by one of said rollers.

3. In a packaging machine, the sub-combination comprising a pair of rollers having juxtaposed peripheries, means for driving one of said rollers, each roller having a portion of its periphery provided with a concave groove, said grooves mating to effect a substantially circular passageway between said rollers, a portion of the periphery of each groove having an annular knurled surface, one of said rollers having a radially outwardly directed cutter means thereon, said one roller having knurled pressure surfaces on opposite sides of the cutter means, and said other roller having knurled pressure surfaces adapted to mate with said first-mentioned knurled pressure surfaces which are disposed on opposite sides of the cutter means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 622,841 4/1899 Crowell 53-177 1,313,234 8/1919 Jones 5328 2,280,405 4/1942 Frostad 53-28 2,550,616 4/1951 Stephano 53177 X 2,580,456 1/1952 Noe 53-477 2,607,696 8/1952 Kunz 5328 X 2,762,178 9/1956 Campbell 53182 GRANVILLE Y. CUSTER, JR., Primary Examiner. 

3. IN A PACKAGING MACHINE, THE SUB-COMBINATION COMPRISING A PAIR OF ROLLERS HAVING JUXTAPOSED PERIPHERIES, MEANS FOR DRIVING ONE OF SAID ROLLERS, EACH ROLLER HAVING A PORTION OF ITS PERIPHERY PROVIDED WITH A CONCAVE GROOVE, SAID GROOVES MATING TO EFFECT A SUBSTANTIALLY CIRCULAR PASSAGEWAY BETWEEN SAID ROLLERS, A PORTION OF THE PERIPHERY OF EACH GROOVE HAVING AN ANNULAR KNURLED SURFACE, ONE OF SAID ROLLERS HAVING A RADIALLY OUTWARDLY DIRECTED CUTTER MEANS THEREON, SAID ONE ROLLER HAVING KNURLED PRESSURE SURFACES ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE CUTTER MEANS, AND SAID OTHER ROLLER HAVING KNURLED PRESSURE SURFACES ADAPTED TO MATE WITH SAID FIRST-MENTIONED KNURLED PRESSURE SURFACES WHICH ARE DISPOSED ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE CUTTER MEANS. 